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I Forge Iron

DaveGas

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Everything posted by DaveGas

  1. Finished up a set of sconces for my grandmother's 86th birthday. Took some advice off of some guys on here awhile ago and formed all of the scrolls freehand. Took a little longer but I'm happy with them. Used a copper leaf pen to add a little color in to the mix.
  2. They are about 8" tall and protrude 4" from the wall. Made out of 1/4" thick x 3/4" wide stock. The tapestry itself is around 54" wide by 38" long. Mod note: Please do not quote entire blocks of text and photos that are not relevant to your reply. It makes the forum hard to read and eats up bandwidth for our members who use dial-up internet.
  3. Made some small wall hooks to hold a tapestry that was given to me by my grandfather. Hung it next to the chandelier I did awhile back (finally got the wax candle covers in) and just like that we have a throne room. If anyone is looking for quality wax candle covers (both translucent and sleeves) take a look at Lumiere Candles, Inc. (https://www.candlecoverstore.com/main.sc;jsessionid=17B99B9FA38434328933EBCF4933E092.p3plqscsfapp002). They offer a discount to those in the trade.
  4. I also left a feast for the local tribe of raccoons where I oiled it. This whole project was a major learning experience.
  5. I soaked it in my pond after applying the oil, dried it, then hit it with degreaser. Kept wiping til there was no residue left then applied the clear coat. The color remained and the residue was gone so I'm hoping it holds up. I had to manhandle it to hang it and definitely smacked it with plies and wire strippers quite a few times and didn't loose the finish so it should be okay. If not, I know someone who can take it down and try it again
  6. Oiled (cooking oil from Sam's club) then finished with a Krylon satin finish clear coat. Had to buy a propane rose bud torch and a cheap mop... Made a massive mess but got some bronze, brown, red, and blacks.
  7. Hung my first attempt at a chandelier today. Weighed in at 72 pounds. Still waiting for the wax candle covers to arrive.
  8. Did a lot of staring and beer drinking the other day as I began a hang test for my first chandelier project. Far from scientific, but if one scrolled hook can hold the entire weight of the project then four definitely can, right? Sounds reasonable. I plan on going hook to hook until I've done all of them and I'm satisfied. If anyone has experience with this subject I would appreciate input (I've never made an overhead piece before). So far it's weighing in at 76 pounds with chain and all. All load bearing pieces were riveted with two 1/4" and also welded on the upper ends to ensure they will hold (don't like the idea of this thing falling on my head so I'm not taking chances). When I mocked it up the entire chandelier is 69" tall. Turns out it's going to hang too low for where I wanted to put it. Plus side is that I have a split entry house with a cathedral ceiling in the living room. The 30" ring will be come the living room chandelier and the 20" ring will become the entry chandelier. It was originally supposed to be a 12 light, two tiered chandelier. Looking like I'll have one 8 light chandelier and one 4 light. Oh well, now I know and knowing is half the battle. I was thinking of 1/2" tubing running along the inside from light arm to light arm. Probably with a 1 inch gap between runs to splice and the wiring and hide the wire nuts inside of the light arms.
  9. I have 2 #100 propane cylinders for my forge. They are outside the shop against the wall. Currently I'm using 5 gallon buckets to shelter the valves until I finally get around to throwing up a lean to. I bought a 50' hose and ran it through the shop wall via a fernco fitting on the outside. My forge is on wheels so I can move it around the shop (tight space so it's pushed to the wall once done and cooled).
  10. I definitely appreciate the feedback from both of you. Although I must admit that drawing (in the writing sense) has never been a strength of mine. I couldn't draw a scroll even if I used a stencil
  11. While I have both of you here what would you recommend for the square stock? Taper then scroll, flatten then scroll, or flare and scroll?
  12. I thank you both for your input and it will be assimilated. The scrolls for the light arms were bought. I needed the grove to assist in hiding the wires as the wire fits in the channel. Long story short, the 3/4 tubing I had and scrolled was too big and overpowered the pieces even though the wiring was completely hidden. 1/2 was too small. Then I went with 5/8 and while they fit nicely proportionally, there wasn't enough room on the inside for wiring through the scrolled end so there was a 2 inch wire run on the exterior. My solution to aide in that was to purchase these as the wiring stays in the contour of the grove. The bender I was using also put groves in the tubing the wire rested on top instead of inside and my jigs wouldn't put a grove at all. This is a project I am doing for my living room and is the first one I've ever attempted so there is a massive learning curve on my part. On the upside I am learning a lot about proportional pieces.
  13. Depending on the stock I don't flatten the ends if they fit the bender. The larger tubes I must flatten based on thickness. As long as it's hot this bender has no problem bending flat bar 3/8 x 4". Hot only, would probably snap the handle on 3/16 cold.
  14. Just got the hanging rings on today. See below. I might resize the rings to 3 inch instead of 4 but I haven't decided for sure. I bend them hot. I usually bend them at the same time as the main scroll so if you stack all the scrolled pieces they will match perfectly. I also cut the pieces from the same stock; pretty standard stuff for us but when you tell a customer "all the same size pieces are cut from the same stock so if you unrolled everything you can match the cuts together perfectly" they eat it up.
  15. Definitely heard the perfectionist line before. As for the round stock I just started with 3/16" solid round and scrolled them. I found the letters and numbers on an online shop actually so I can't take credit for them. I used a silver leaf pen to color them (copper looks great also). Just got the arms riveted on to the 30" chandelier ring today so I've attached a picture of that. Still have to add the candle trays and sockets once the nipples come in but it's coming along.
  16. I do some different things with my sconces. These were a big hit for me. I found that 2"x3/16" flat bar works best for the body and 3/16" square makes the best scrolls. 5 1/2" candle trays also work best.
  17. Funny how beating the xxxx out of something soothes us. If all goes as planned I will be eligible to retire at 50. Still plenty of swinging years left after that! Thank you for your service and thank the rest of you for your kind words.
  18. My power hammer days are well off in to the future. Perhaps when I retire I will treat myself to a proper shop and all the big boy tools. Of course, I would still charge high for my work to pay for the power hammer so I guess that leaves me in the same spot I am now.
  19. This goes a little off topic and is longer than necessary but give it a shot. I've been hammering steady for 2 years and didn't attempt patterning until 18 months in as it definitely takes a clear understanding of forge welding. You most certainly can do it without a power hammer but be prepared to hammer your balls off. Literally, they might fall off. Tip: line up a few buddies for the day and use them to assist in hammering. BE SURE EVERYONE WEARS SAFETY GLASSES! I don't know what your experience is with forge welding but things have a tendency to fly at that heat. Everyone should do it at least once. As mentioned before it's a good accomplishment to put in the toolbox. Again as someone else mentioned, paying clients don't seem to care if it's "hand hammered" and can't seem to fathom why a hand hammered piece is 10x more expensive than a production run. They just want it to look pretty. If you ever get to the point of selling your work you will come to realize that only a slim few are willing to actually pay you for your time and effort. A friend once asked for a machete to assist him in clearing right of ways for power lines... After I priced it up for him ($110) he threw a fit and bought a Chinese one for $6.99 on Amazon. My best advice in this regard for you, being as you are young, is to develop your own unique style. Your work will speak for itself but your style will tell the story. Make it a good one. Anyway, the last billet I patterned was 112 layers. It's been sitting idol ever since as I can't decide if I want a hatchet, hammer, a knife or two, or a paper weight :/ Good luck!
  20. Not yet but I have 4 springs off a Polaris ranger that I replaced last year that have been patiently sitting next to the anvil. I recently acquired an anchor (baby) that has been putting a damper on my free time. I'm hoping to get a hammer in his hands by mid summer though!
  21. Everyone loves pictures. Here's some of my sconces and the second attempt at a railroad spike knife compared to my most recent ones. Once my chandelier starts to look like a chandelier I will be sharing those as well.
  22. Rolled 2 rings for a chandelier project to keep the wife happy. PS: the centerpiece made me happy. I didn't have the capability to roll steel this wide so I used angle rings as a bending jig and with a little heat I think it worked out. Larger is 30", smaller is 20".
  23. I know I'm 2 years late on this topic but I just joined here and I recently took on a chandelier project requiring 30" and 20" rings. I purchased angle rings from Midwest Metal Products and used them as a bending jig to bend 4" x 3/16" flat bar in to rings. Now I obviously had to heat them but I was able to bend them in only 2 heats per ring. I had about $80 in material but I needed to make 3 chandeliers. I easily made up for their cost and will keep the rings for future projects.
  24. Hello all, My name is Dave and I got in to blacksmithing about two years ago. I have no idea what brought me to the trade but I am glad I did. It's a hobby for me as the job that pays is being a police officer. I'm located 10 minutes west of Pittsburgh and am currently operating out of a 12x16 shed. The first thing I ever forged was a fire poker and a sad excuse of a railroad spike knife. I've since moved on to candle wall sconces and door knockers. My latest and largest project is a two tier, 12 light ring chandelier. Anyway, I just wanted to introduce myself and give a little background.
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